Giving an Effective Scientific Presentation

Victor Valcour, MD, PhDMemory and Aging Center

MSTAR Didactics Lecture July 2014

OverviewI. Why Present

II. What to Present- Telling a scientific story- Know your audience

III. How to Present- Power point basics - Presentation and Communication

Skills

Why Present? • Communicate your science beyond the lab• Get Feedback from others• Network• Career Advancement

- Grant proposals and job applications- Promotions- Grant renewals and progress reports- Establishing expertise in the field

Organizing your content• Identify 1 or 2 overarching themes or questions

• Create an outline before preparing slides

• Start broad and progress to more specific

• Tell a story- logical, not chronological

Organizing your content

• Tailor to audience•What is the audience’s existing knowledge on the topic?•What is the audience’s goal? (CME vs. scientific information)•What is the audience’s interest in the topic?•What are your goals for giving your talk to this audience?

Questions to AnswerWhat is your scientific question?

Introduction and HypothesisWhy should people care?

Background, Rationale, Importance to the fieldWhat did you do?

MethodsWhat did you find?

ResultsWhat do your results mean?

Discussion and Conclusion

How to prepare your slides

Approach1. Title- short and clear2. Disclosures (if needed)3. Outline (for larger talks only)4. Introduction/Background5. Methods6. Results7. Limitations8. Conclusion/Implications9. Acknowledgements

Introduction and Background• Why is this important? (separate slide)

• Prior work on the topic (include citations)• Who is impacted? Clinical or policy implications?• How you will your work contribute to the field

and this particular topic?• How will your work impact patients, clinicians,

researchers?

• Make sure it will connect to the discussion

• Establish your scientific question and state your hypothesis in one slide (optional)

Methods• Describe the population

• What type of study?

• What tools were used?

• Statistical Approach

Results• Concise, clear, and thorough

• Provide charts, graphs and tables whenever possible

• Include statistical values (p, mean, etc.)

• Only present what is relevant to your main point

• Limit amount per slide (don’t cram)

LimitationsAddress Shortcomings:• Is your sample size small?

•Were the measures used not optimal for your population?

•Are your findings applicable across populations or restricted to certain demographics ?

•What can be done better/differently next time?

Conclusions/Implications1. What do you want to leave the

audience thinking about?

2. What is your major point? Drive it home here in one sentence

3. Interpret results in the context of the bigger picture and implications for future research

*Refer back to Introduction

Number of Slides per SectionTypical 12 Min Talk

Your 10 min MSTAR talk

Title 1 1Disclosures 1 0Introduction & Background

2 3**

Methods 2-3 2-3Results 3 1*Limitations 1 1Conclusions & Implications

1-2 1*

Acknowledgements 1 1* Expected findings** Be sure to state hypothesis

Introduction

Background

Methods Results

Conclusions

Slide Design and Layout• Be cautious with Powerpoint templates- use

departmental templates

• Avoid fancy animations and special effects

• Use your ‘white’ space sparingly

• Title slides with succinct, descriptive headings

Colors• Use high contrast colors: •Dark background and light letters –large spaces•Light background and dark letters- small spaces

• Avoid neon colors in text or background

Text Technicalities• 1.5-2 pt. spacing between bullet

points• Use Sans Serif Fonts• Arial, Calibri, Helvetica

• Font size:•Headings: 36-44 point•Body: 24-36 point•References: 14 point

• This is 14 point

• This is 18 point• This is 36 point•This is 44 point

Charts, graphs and visuals• Minimize number of figures in one slide (1

main figure/slide)

• Provide clear, easy to read titles and axis labels

• Orient the audience to what is most important in the figure

• Simplify complex figures to bare necessities

Ten Year Risk of Cardiovascular Events

Egger, 40th ICAAC

Men Women

Egger, 40th ICAAC Abs 1374

23

Arm Baseline Wk48 Wk96 Wk144 Wk192 TotalImmediate 0 0 0 5 18 23

Deferred wk144 0 0 8 7 6 21Deferred Start 0 3 2 3 4 12

HEU 0 0 0 2 23 25HUU 0 0 0 2 17 19

Total 0 3 10 19 68 100

Projected Scans by Arm: 9/2014-5/2015*

*Assuming no new enrollees

24

Site Baseline Wk48 Wk96 Wk144 Wk19

2 TotalHIV-NAT 0 1 6 10 28 45

KKU 0 2 0 5 5 12RIHES 0 0 4 4 35 43Total 0 3 10 19 68 100

Projected Scans by Site: 9/2014-5/2015*

*Assuming no new enrollees

Combine HIVNAT and KKU – call them HIVNAT/KKU

Control NL ANI MND0

20

40

60

80

100Percentile

Total NAB Performance

Total NAB across groups. ANI did not differ from MND, but both ANI and MND performed more than 2 SD below controls.

Chiao et al. AIDS Res. 2013

Network Connectivity Integrity in HIV

Presentation Basics• Plan your words, but don’t memorize a script

• Be mindful of time limits (avg. 1 min/slide)

• Speak slowly and enunciate- pace yourself

• Take pauses to allow audience to catch up

• Demonstrate confidence- don’t doubt yourself but recognize the extent of your knowledge

Body LanguageBody

• Stand straight (don’t lean at an angle)

• Don’t fidget, play with your hair etc.

• SMILE!!!

Eyes• Don’t stare at your

slides- speak to your audience

• Scan the audience and make eye contact

Adapted from UCSF OCPD ‘Presentation Tips for designing and delivering a dynamic research talk’

Audience Questions

• Prepare by considering what questions may be asked

• Practice in front of others to get feedback and suggestions for possible questions

Audience Questions• When asked a question:

• Listen carefully and restate question if not certain you heard correctly• Take a moment to think out your answer • Don’t doubt yourself- be confident!!

• If you don’t know the answer:• Try your best and acknowledge importance of the question• Consider if it will help you in your work• Don’t be rude or condescending

Summary

• Keep it simple and concise• Know your audience• Know your presentation goals• Get feedback• Be Confident• Practice Practice Practice!!!

Further Resources• UCSF Office of Career and Professional

development•Mock presentation opportunities for practice and feedback

• Scitable.com (by Nature.com): ‘English Communication for Scientists,’ Unit 4: Giving Oral Presentations

Engaging the Audience• Start with attention grabber • Road map: • Provide a preview slide at beginning with outline of

the talk and refer back to it through out the talk to help orient

• Include audience in the story telling, use ‘we’, rather than ‘I’

• Use humor- but remain culturally sensitive (no nationality jokes) and professional

Transitions• Provide verbal transitions that direct audience

when moving onto a new point or concept

• Important in telling your story in a manner that audience can follow

• Review major points before moving on to next point• ‘So now that we’ve looked at what to present, we’ll look into how to present’